40k Skirmish - Assasinate the Engineer Battle Report

Caution... I think this is THE longest battle report I have ever written. My only regret is that there are no photos! The game was superb (thanks DaBank) and it deserve nothing less. Enjoy... if you survive the long read!


Sorry for the multiple posts... but this stuff is too long!


Check https://boringmordheimforum.forumieren.com/sci-fi-wargames-f16/photo-game-1-t1060.htm
and https://boringmordheimforum.forumieren.com/sci-fi-wargames-f16/blow-up-the-promethium-refiner-t1167.htm for previews reports!


Game 03: The Civilian Visitors.
After almost a week of guarding the Promethium Pump Station Kappa-42 without any incident, the Colonel was finally relaxing in the make-shift HQ station they had put together. They were expecting an Ork counter-attack, but so far it had not occurred. Everything was quiet, for the exception of the pumps and the automatons now working on the precious fuel. He was drinking that foul water-down toxic thing that passed for Imperial Coffee, when he was interrupted by one of his men.

- ‘Sir, incoming transmission from Karameikos General HQ. Priority Gamma 31, Encryption Alpha 22. No video or audio… text only. It is already on this datapad for your revision.’

With that said he gave the datapad to the Colonel and left the Officers to their own devices. The Colonel read the information and chuckled. He looked at Lieutenant Dan, who was polishing his mechanical bionic replacement legs.

- ‘Hey, Dan! You won’t believe it even after you read it. Ha! Apparently we are making a difference after all! I believe we both owe Hawkeye 25 credits. Here, have a look…’ said Colonel DaBank, tossing the datapad to his Lieutenant.
- ‘May I be sent to patrol the Eye of Terror! I thought I be seeing the Holy Emperor taking a stroll down the Hall of Victors before I get to see this! You gotta look at this Cage!’

To: Colonel Andy Tabor; Senior Officer of Detachment 08 [Last Chancers] Imperial Regiment Taldara 597
From: Drakko Ochovia; Senior Administrator, Karameikos IV Ordo Consortium Manofactorium
Subject: Revised Status of Weapon Manufactoriums at Melkor.
Transmitted: Karameikos Imperial Headquarters, Karameikos IV
Transmitter: Long Range, Planetary Vox Caster Tiberiusli
Receiver: Private 1st Class W. Vush
Thought For The Day: "Hate is the lubricant of the Empire. Remember to renew every 1,000 miles or daily, whatever occurs first."

May the beloved Emperor shines His Graces upon all of us! First, I would like to congratulate you and your men for an excellent job. With limited resources you have managed to single handedly completely eradicate an Ork invasion to our beloved Karameikos, but have managed to restore operation to 93% of all Promethium refineries and storage facilities. Our service level had never been more than 17% capacity since the mining accident several years ago. At the rate of production calculated, we would be able to export Promethium to the Imperium in less than 6 months. We owe you a debt of gratitude!

The Ordo Mechanicum and Manofactoriums are not only impressed about your diligence, but are concerned that the Weapon Manofactoriums are only working at 12%, from a past maximum of 73%. Please find no offense on this. We understand that your men are not Engineers and your numbers are few; even then your production numbers continue to improve daily. Everyone is puzzled to know how you are accomplished this efficiency rebuild. Of course, your vast experiences in many battle fields and campaigns must have given you insights that our civilian engineers could never dream up in a lifetime. For these reasons, I have dispatched Chief Engineer Duce Manto de Leon. The Team is to study your work, catalog the new changes, make any improvements if possible and return with a complete report.

The engineering team will arrive at Melkor at 23.12.858 near the zone of Pump Station Alpha-04 . Your mission is to meet, cooperate and share with them all technical information. Due to the nature of the mission, Chief Engineer Duce will assume civilian command of you and your men until his return to HQ. I have already submitted you for a commendation with Terra. We will eagerly await the missions debriefing.

A humble servant under The Emperor's Might,
Planetary Senior Administrator, Karameikos IV Ordo Consortium Manofactorium

- ‘You are both idiots…’ Lieutenant Cage knew he could joke in the private with his old comrades without fear of a field execution. ‘… don’t you know that is it I the one who have done all those repairs by myself?’ After a brief laugh he continued. ‘In all seriousness, this is very disturbing. Those morons misunderstood the report we sent… the Orks are not eradicated and we are guarding one pump station, not repairing the whole damned place! At least this answers our questions of why they have not returned to attempt to retake this place. The Greenskins control others locations and they started to produce weapons! To make matters worse, we have to force-march to north-east of the city. We have 23 hours to cover 35 miles… a very tight fit.’
- ‘And you think that is the worse part? It happens that now I’m no longer in command!’ ironically shrugged the Colonel. ‘With my last vestige of power; gather the men… time to move out!’

They were all exhausted. They forced marched quietly but at great speed through the night, in an attempt to get to the location before the civilians. To their surprise, they found five identically dressed men scanning some damaged equipment to the west end of a plaza at a cargo distribution center. They wore minimalistic toxic decontamination re-breathers, who looked very new. The bastards had arrived at least 3 hours earlier! Magoo broke the silence, in barely audible tones.

- ‘Ork Kommando at 2 o’clock! By the Emperor’s legs… the civilians are already surrounded!’
- ‘LAST CHANCERS! DEFEND THE CHIEF!’ shouted Colonel DaBank commanded.
- ‘Who is he? They all looked the same?’
- ‘Does it matter? SAVE THEM ALL!’ responded DaBank to whoever asked the question. Moving to a private channel, ‘Dan… be careful. Surgical extraction; in and out. No heroisms… I’m in no mood of replacing your yet legs again.’

Lieutenant Dan was touched by the concern. When to respond he turned to his commanding Officer, only to find him lost in thought. His blank expression would have been confused by any other Guardsmen as one of paralyzing fear. This Commissar almost put a bullet to the Colonel’s face, mistaking this terror-face for what it really was; intent concentration. The Colonel was now ‘in the zone’… quickly studying the terrain and devising tactics and counter-tactics. It was this impressive analytical skill that had allowed The Last Chancers to survive the most suicidal missions. This was no different. Before they had the power of decision… when to attack, who to attack. Now, their hand was forced and only his great leadership would allow them not only to survive, but triumph in the name of the Holy Emperor. The Lieutenant knew what to do. He started barking orders, and had everyone hustle towards the engineers. He heard Magoo scream,

- ‘DOWN! HIT THE DECK YOU BASTARDS! DO IT OR DIE…’

This was definetly the worst approach, short of shooting at them. The engineers were just civilians, and had no training what so ever. Their faces filled with panic and fear in an instant. They all turned to the Guardsmen and raised their hands in submissive surrender.

- ‘DON’T SHOOT! We are unarmed!’

Sergeant Rock knew this was a lie. Nobody in the Imperium is unarmed. There is a saying on his homeworld, Death World Catachan: Everyone in the Imperium maybe born with a pocket knife on hand, but a Catachan digs their way out of their mother’s belly with a Combat Knife and a Lasgun! Regardless, the civilians could get a lucky shot. At that moment he saw the incoming Greenskins. The Orks were at less than 30 paces, practically close enough for a hug, moving directly towards the engineers. Since they turned around to face the Guardsmen, they were in for a nasty surprise.

They all heard the distinctive sounds of Sluggas. One of the engineers got hit not once, but five times in his back. He yelped like a puppy dog that has been kicked out of the hallway. He stumbled forward, but did not drop. Sergeant Paper knew that the Orks weapons had sub-par ammunition. Maybe the Emperor was smiling upon their fates… or maybe not. A Kommando jumped down from a 2nd story building, firing his Slugga at him, catching him on his helmet. Stunned by the impact, he fell down.

Other civilians we hit multiple times, but none suffer any lethal consequences. That is until the group’s Weirdboy arrived. He was, like always, separated from the main group to the south are of the main Ork force. His eyes glowed with an eerie blue haze, and a crackling lightning shot directly towards an engineer. He was being just held by two of the Last Chancers Infantrymen. All three were caught by the explosion. Private Magoo managed to pull the surprised engineer to safety, but his comrade was not so lucky. Bleeding, he laid on the floor without movement.

Directly to the back of The Last Chancers, behind a blast barricade a huge one-eyed Ork pulled his Slugga through. Roaring with maniacal laughter, he shot an Infantryman on the back of his head. He dropped without making a sound, his helmet open like a crushed nut.

The civilians were in total state of panic! They ran like headless chickens, without direction or purpose. One broke free from Magoo’s grip and ran away from him. He seemed happy to have escaped his captor… only to find himself in front of the Weirboy! He was now rediscovering the meaning of fear. Three others tried to run for cover, but most moved in the way of the Imperial Guardsmen, making their rescue even harder. The last civilian apparently remained cool and decided to move behind a blast barrier… the same one the one-eyed Ork and two of his Boyz stood. His life flashed before his eyes.

The Guardsmen were not defenseless. They moved forward defensively, to take advantage of cover… everyone except the Colonel. He stood defiant… and then he saw him clearly for the very first time. It was a huge specimen. He has baptized him the Albino as a joke, but now he knew that he was right. The Albino was not as large as the typical Ork Warboss. He was a light minty-green hue with pinkish colored eyes, rather than dark green skin and deep red eyes the other Orks had. This made him a creepy looking Ork. He also stood there, besides a building, motionless… looking straight to the Colonel. It was like he knew whose head he wanted to rip off.

Colonel DaBank’s trance was interrupted by the Lieutenant Cage’s shot. Like customary, he aimed his lagun to ‘the big ones’ and dropped a very muscular Ork, who seemed to be commanding smaller ones. Meanwhile, two of his men managed to calm down the engineers, taking control of their actions. Sergeant Rock threw a grenade as a diversion, knowing clearly the incoming Kommandos were out of range. To his surprise, the grenade bounced forward, doubling its distance, directly to the Kommando’s hands. He Ork had one of those looks that toddlers get when they capture a ball for the first time… at least he did before it exploded. After the smoke cleared, the Ork stood in the same spot, dumbfounded that his new toy was no-more. One of the engineers took out an Autopistol, and fired widely at an Ork. It hit his mark, and the stunned Ork lay on the floor attempting to get up. Sergeant Rock thanks the Emperor for dumb luck.

The Albino moved slowly, but steadily towards DaBank. He cared not that six humans were on his way. He fired his Shoota at a civilian in complete disregard of his actions, just before kicking one of his Boyz out of the way… towards the Weirdboy. They both started beating up the civilian, but it was the human who did the most damage. It seemed the Boy’s overconfidence became his demise. Of course, no mere man could kill an Ork in close combat… so he would suffer the consequences of his survival instinct.

Meanwhile a Burna Boy came out of the building, and fired his Burna towards two engineers, one Infantrymen and Sergeant Rock. Poor fool… his nozzle was not properly adjusted, and the flames were short of his mark. Now, he and the Orks he was providing flammable shielding were exposed to the Guardsmen counter-attack. The Kommando whose toy had blown up, decided to move forward and throw a Stikkbomb of his own. The explosion caught Sergeant Rock, and engineer and Colonel DaBank. Everyone came out without anything else than a ringing on their ears, probably thanks to the Colonel’s lucky charm. The one-eyed Ork moved forward, and shot an engineer right on the face, while his Boyz moved forward for an attack.

Hawkeye, the Field Medic, tended to one of the civilians calming him down, while making sure his head was tucked down away from the enemy fire. Sergeant Paper stood up, shooting a Kommando on his chest. Left for dead, he looked after his own men. Private George Michaels saw the opening he was looking for. He moved to close the distance and fire his flamer towards the Burna Boy and his entourage. At the same time, Seargent Rock aimed and fired his lasgun to the Burna Boy, grazing one of his legs. The Burna Boy fell to the floor, probably saving him of being burned to death, and thus saving the other Orks from a big explosion.

Lieutenant Dan stood firm behind a wrecked machine. He shot an upcoming Ork Boy down, with minimal effort. To his surprise, Private Magoo had move to his right. His hand steady, he took a shot at the Albino. It was clear that Magoo was a great marksman. He shot the enemy in the center of the neck, just above the collar of the looted carapace armor the Xeno wore. Any other creature would have been decapitated by the shot… but not the Albino. He kept moving at an incredible rate, directly towards them. Behind them, DaBank ordered to provide cover fire, shooting an Ork on the process. The Burna Boy responded by flaming George Michael (again) as well as an engineer. Luckily, his fuel tank did not explode. A Kommando shot Sergeant Paper point-black, again in the back in true Orkish fashion.

Suddenly, the battle noises were minimized by an unnatural battlecry. The Albino stood defiantly, with arms open, inspiring and commanding his Boyz… WAAAGH! Everyone understood what it means… the Orks were moving in for the kill. It was time to cut loses and move out, but the Orks were not going to allow this easily. Every Ork near the Albino moved forward at a frenetic pace, shooting their weapons wildly more for the Daka sounds than for killing the enemy. The real pleasure was to consummate the kill with their own hands and Choppas.

The One-Eyed Ork moved forward, and with his Big Choppa decapitated in one swing an engineer, even when he was surrounded by two Infantrymen. Two Orks, exited by the Waaagh! Attempted to jump over a freight container, only to stumble into it. So much for joining the fray. The Weirdboy stabbed the fourth engineer in the chest, with his Choppa still cracking with energy from the Warp. The agony on his face would have bring joy to even the most demanding of Painboyz.

The Albino did not make any mistake. A consummate fighter, he timed his call perfectly. While others rushed forward, he ran towards DaBank. On his way were two Infantrymen, the Field Medic, the last of the civilians, Lieutenant Dan and an additional 20 paces. He cared not for any of the obstacles; the Colonel would die. The Albino towered over all of them. He took a couple of swings with his Big Choppa at Lieutenant Dan, who flew unconscious 5 paces away. Enraged with blood-lust, the Albino stood to roar in victory. This was the opening the opening the Colonel needed. His mission was clear, and while he had no idea who the civilian was he had to save him. He called for a tactical retreat.

While The Last Chancers moved away with his fallen comrades, they saw in horror how the Orks rejoiced kicking and beating the bodies of the remaining civilians. The Albino climbed in top of a ruined monument; looked at the Colonel… firing his Shoota at the sky in victory. It was clear that this Ork, contrary to any of the know facts, was indeed intelligent. The Colonel knew, he must be stop… or the next interplanetary Waaagh! Would made Armageddon look like a toddlers squabble.

Imperial Epilogue
- ‘Are you all right Ma’am?’ asked Hawkeye.
- ‘I… I think so…’ responded breathlessly the terrified woman.
- ‘Her dog-tags ID her as Chief Engineer Duce Manto de Leon. I guess we were successful.’ observed Private Magoo.
- ‘Never mind her. For all I care at this moment, we can hand-deliver her to the Albino. How is Dan?’
- ‘Not to worry Sir. He has a mild concussion… although I do not want to be near him when he wakes up from the sedative. There is a 2” black scratch on left leg. It will take hours to polish that thing. The rest of the men are doing well too. We should order more Mark II helmets… just look at Rodger’s… how he survived is a miracle.’

Pleased with the repost, the Colonel started to concentrate on what the future departed for all of them.



Ork Epilogue
The Boyz had rounded all the loot near the Albino’s feet. He was reclining in a make-shift throne, like important Warbosses do. Among the broken trinkets laid 4 datapads. Normal Orks would had use these as glowing Frisbees, but the Albino had other plans.

- ‘… but Boss. Why did weeb let da uumies go? Why ya wan da glowin' frisbees?’
- ‘Blogg 'ead! Dat was da plan awl along! They will calls reinforcements an da scrap will be biggur an bedda. Oww, da bigg wurdz make mi 'ed 'urt! Da glowin' frisbees? They are ow uumies gavva knowledge. Meeb kan read uumie... erk-snorggg... da knowledge will be nows mine! Meeb will teach ya ow ter scrap bedda, so yer stronga an deadlia dan Gorka an Morka dimselves!’ gleefully answer the Albino.
- ‘Weeb lost wona Mugurty'z Boyz an ee iz droolin' qwite a bit. Wot are weeb goin' ter du wif 'im?’ and before the Ork finish his sentence, the huge Ork grabbed him, compressing his skull with one of his hands until it popped. The Ork’s brains laid everywhere, while Mugurty sat down like a broken Servitor… drooling all over himself.
- ‘Ohh, donz worry yourself ubbout Mugurty. Ee iz jus' perfect da way ee iz.' With that, The Albino feasted his eyes on the Imperial datapads;

• ‘Technical Manuscript; Promethium Refineries at Karameikos IV’
• ‘The Art of Espionage; a recount of recreational uses.’
• ‘Kappa Ryū; a history on Gryts’ martial arts from Gōjū-Ryū to the present.’
• ‘Tactica Imperialis; A History of the Later Imperial Crusades.’




See? It was long! 'till the next time... WAAAGH!

Freakin Great!

Looks like Duce finally made it in a story albiet a female character.

This scenario was a blast! Literally! We had flamers, grendades, slugga, lasgun, pistol and knife fighting. You would have thought you were in the Wild Wild West.

Da Bank wrote:

Freakin Great!

Looks like Duce finally made it in a story albiet a female character.

This scenario was a blast! Literally! We had flamers, grendades, slugga, lasgun, pistol and knife fighting. You would have thought you were in the Wild Wild West.

I think Duce is secure enough in his masculinity that he can handle it.

AND, that type of action IS what gaming is all about. COOL BATTLE REPORT!

Superb!

I just had to reread it again! LOL. I love the way Mordheimer writes.